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FOSS HALL 



THE GIFT OF 
MRS. ELIZA ADALINE FOSS DEXTER 
OF WORCESTER, MASS. 



COLBY COLLEGE, WATERVILLE MAINE 




MRS. EtIZA ADALINE FOSS DEXTER. 



COLBY COLLEGE 

An Account of the Laying of 
the Corner-stone and of the 
Dedication of Foss Hall, to- 
gether with a Description of 
the Building ::::::: 



WATERVILLE, MAINE, 1906 



Ai:ithor 




^1 



FOSS HALL— THE GIFT OF 
MRS. ELIZA ADALINE FOSS DEXTER 

On Tuesday, September sixth, 1904, at one o'clock in the 
afternoon, ground was broken for Foss Hall, — a dormitory 
and home for the women of Colby College. The formal exer- 
cises included a brief speech by President Charles Lincoln 
White, the turning of a spadeful of earth by Miss Grace Ella 
Berry, Dean of the Women's Division of Colby College, and 
prayer by Rev. Edwin Carey Whittemore, D. D., Pastor of 
the First Baptist Church of Waterville. 

President White spoke as follows : 

" This building is the gift of Mrs. William H. Dexter, of 
Worcester, Mass., and is to be called Foss Hall. May all who 
study within these walls learn the lessons of industry which 
Mrs. Dexter's life so nobly teaches, and attain that high plane 
of Christian character which their benefactress possesses." 

LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE 

On Thursday afternoon, October sixth, 1904, a large assem- 
bly, including many delegates to the Baptist State Convention 
then in session at Waterville, gathered to witness the laying 
of the corner-stone of Foss Hall. President White presided 
over the exercises. 

After prayer had been offered by Rev. A. R. Crane, D. D., 
President White read the following letter from Mr. Dexter: 

WoRCESTEiR, Mass., Sept. 30, 1904. 

My Dear President White: 

Mrs. Dexter and I have received with pleasure your invita- 
tion to attend the laying of the corner-stone of Foss Hall on 



4 FOSS HALL. 

October 6th, and we deeply regret that Mrs. Dexter's health 
will prevent our presence on that happy occasion. 

My wife has great satisfaction in the gift which she is 
making to the young women of her native State, for which 
she has a great affection. Mrs. Dexter would request that 
Dean Berry, acting in her behalf, lay the corner-stone. We 
hope to be present in Waterville when the dormitory is dedi- 
cated. 

Very sincerely yours, 

WILLIAM H. DEXTER. 

After Dean Berry, in accordance with the wish of Mrs. 
Dexter, had laid the comer-stone of the building, Hon. Per- 
cival Bonney, LL. D., President of the Board of Trustees of 
Colby College, delivered the following address: 

The Legislature of Massachusetts on the 27th day 
JUDGE of February, A. D. 181 3, established the Maine 

BONNEY'S Literary and Theological Institution " for the pur- 
ADDRESS P^^^ ^^ educating youth," and directed that the 
income of the funds of the corporation should 
be appropriated "in such manner as shall most effectually 
promote virtue and piety, and a knowledge of such of the 
languages and of the liberal arts and sciences as shall be 
hereafter directed from time to time by said corporation." 
Later the name was changed to Waterville College, under 
which its work was carried on for forty-six years. 

On the 8th day of August, 1859, I came here a lad of 
sixteen, and with fear and trembling took my examinations 
before Professors Foster and Hamlin and Tutor H. W. Rich- 
ardson, all scholarly and impressive instructors who have passed 
into rest. Those were the days of small things. President 
Champlin, with four professors and one tutor, constituted the 
faculty, but the latter for financial reasons was discharged from 
service before the close of my college course. The buildings 
consisted of Champlin Hall and North and South College, — 
three in all. The recitation rooms, with two exceptions, were 
partly under ground in the basement of what is now Champlin 
Hall. Prayers were held at six o'clock in the morning, imme- 



COLBY COLLEGE. 5 

diately followed by the early recitation. The students, at the 
sound of the bell, tumbled hastily out of bed, and with equal 
haste rushed into the chapel, with dishevelled hair, with 
unwashed faces, without vests and almost literally like 

"Diddle, diddle dumpling, my son John, 
With one stocking off and one stocking on." 

In such a plight, so conducive to a devotional spirit, they 
gazed upon the countenance of the venerable Doctor lighted 
up by the dim blaze of an oil lamp on the desk before him, 
and listened to his reading from the Book of Life, and joined 
with him as fervently as the circumstances would permit while 
he invoked upon us the blessing of Almighty God. But a 
change has come. Progress has been made in the conduct 
of chapel exercises, as well as in many other ways. 

The courses of study were simple, and consisted in the main 
of Greek, Latin and Mathematics, with a smattering toward 
the end of the course of French, German, Geology, Chemistry, 
Ethics and Intellectual Philosophy. The college was engaged 
in the great work of laying foundations; it did not pretend 
to educate young men for any particular profession or business. 
It was believed by those in authority here, as elsewhere, that 
the careful and accurate study of Greek, Latin and Mathe- 
matics, afforded the best mental discipline to fit young men 
for any profession or other occupation in life; that the great 
purpose of the college was to lay the foundation, — not so 
much that the boys should acquire information or become 
versed in specialties as that they should form the habit of 
patient and accurate thought, the power of generalization as 
well as analysis, and facility, accuracy and conciseness in the 
expression of their thoughts. It is an interesting question 
among thoughtful educators today, whether under the present 
system of multifarious and elective studies, better scholarship 
or a more useful education is acquired than under the old. 
One thing is true, the old system produced some of the might- 
iest men in English and American history, which fact is 
evidence of the efficiency of the old education. 

But since my college days great changes have occurred not 
only here in Waterville, but in methods of business, education, 
and in the world's demands. 



6 FOSS HAI.Iv. 

The Kennebec still runs toward the sea; the campus is no 
more beautiful than on that August day when I first passed 
along its shaded walks; but the three inexpensive buildings 
have grown into eight; the library has increased from 9,000 
volumes to 42,000. In my day the gymnasium consisted of 
a horizontal bar attached to two perpendicular posts driven 
into the ground, and a swinging rope tied to a high limb of 
a tree on the north part of the campus. Football and baseball 
were games unheard of in my day. But since then the rising 
demands for physical culture have caused the erection of a 
well equipped gymnasium ; and three scientific laboratories bear 
witness to the growing necessity of scientific and technical 
education. Life's conditions have changed, and the colleges 
have from time to time revised their courses of study to con- 
form to the changed conditions. As it is utterly impossible 
for any man of today to follow the mode of life of his grand- 
father, so it is impossible for an educational institution to 
thrive which follows the educational methods of fifty years 
ago. The college which so conducts its affairs, however bene- 
ficial those methods were in their day, will soon be compelled 
to close its doors for want of students, who recognize the 
demands of the strenuous life we are living, and will seek 
more enterprising institutions in which to prepare themselves 
for the duties and responsibilities of life. Accordingly, the 
courses of study here have been enlarged and enriched, so as 
to meet the requirements of this new and vigorous age. 

But other changes have taken place. For fifty years after 
the incorporation of this college, men only were enrolled as 
students. When I entered college about one hundred students 
were registered, but when I left in 1863 less than sixty were 
in attendance. The college continued with decreasing num- 
bers, notwithstanding the increase of endowment, for nearly 
ten years. Extraordinary efforts were made to enlarge the 
register of students, but with little avail. Attention was 
directed to the fact that wider avenues of employment for 
women were opening on every side ; that there was increasing 
need of collegiate education for women ; and that the number 
of students could be increased by the admission of women ; 
but the trustees hesitated. The good people of America, 



COLBY COLLEGE. 7 

imbued with the medieval notion that the only place for a 
woman was in the kitchen or the nursery, could see no earthly 
reason for any woman's desire for a college education. I do 
not believe in what is sarcastically termed the "new woman," 
but I do most emphatically favor the uplifting of the old. 
I never could see any sense in the idea that in any woman, 
the maternal instinct would be any less sensitive, or that the 
training of her children would be any less effective, or that 
she would make any poorer bread, because of the fact that 
she knew something. 

In the winter of 1859-60 I taught a village school in one 
of the most thrifty towns in the State. It was the home of 
one of the brightest young men in the college, whose brilliant 
sister, about two years younger than himself, had prepared 
for college with her brother in the schools of the town. She 
desired to enter upon a college course, but no college for 
women had yet been established anywhere ; and the doors of 
every college in New England and in the seaboard states were 
closed against her. In order to satisfy her ambition for a 
higher education, in the fall of 1859 she left her native town 
and entered Oberlin College, the nearest college- which admitted 
women, seven hundred miles away, and in the State of Ohio; 
a college famed for its liberality and Christian spirit. So far 
as I know she was the first woman from Maine to enter any 
college. Her departure from home was the cause of more 
talk in the country store of the village than any event which 
had happened for years. Not a word of encouragement or 
approval came from any of those wise men who discoursed 
upon the uselessness and extravagance of such an undertaking. 
That woman after several years of successful teaching became 
the wife of a distinguished graduate of this college, and for 
several years has spent her time in literary work as a maker 
of books. 

Since then conditions have changed rapidly and extensively. 
At that time the sphere of woman was circumscribed and 
limited. Now new doors of employment are open to her. The 
interests and occupations of women have been multiplied during 
the last forty years. Gates tliat then were barred against her 
are now wide open. She is to be found in stores, offices and 



O FOSS HAIvIv. 

counting rooms, in medicine and the ministry. Then she taught 
the small children in the summer primary schools; now she is 
sought in the higher positions in the seminary, academy, high 
school, and the winter term in the rural districts. The man- 
agers of the secondary schools demand college graduates 
as instructors. The colleges have responded to the popular 
demand. Four great institutions of learning for girls only 
have been established, — Vassar, Wellesley, Smith and Mount 
Holyoke; while in New England, the doors of many of the 
old colleges have been opened to them. Women in some rela- 
tion can be found in Bates, Colby, the University of Maine, 
Harvard, Tufts, Boston University, Brown, Wesley an and 
Yale, in the latter of which several graduates of Colby have 
pursued postgraduate studies with honor to themselves and 
their college. Bates was the first to open its doors in 1863, 
while Colby responded to the popular demand in 1871. 

New conditions demand new methods. New conditions 
require new and enlarged courses of study; and new con- 
ditions have demanded that a broader definition be given to 
the word "youth" as contained in the original charter of Colby 
College, than that given by the founders. The young women 
are flocking to the doors of the higher institutions of learning, 
and are seeking recognition and an opportunity for the improve- 
ment of their intellectual powers. More than four thousand 
of them are now pursuing studies in the colleges of New 
England. Are we to stifle their aspirations or throw obstacles 
in the way of their realization? Shall we compel the young 
women of Maine who have these aspirations, to go to other 
states at increased expense in order to gratify them? 

I glory in the longings of any person, black or white, bond 
or free, man or woman, boy or girl, for a better, stronger, more 
cultured and useful life. I rejoice in every movement which 
brings those high longings and aspirations to a successful 
consummation. 

We thank our venerable and philanthropic friend, Mrs. 
Eliza Adaline Foss Dexter, for the great gift she has made for 
the comfort and convenience of the young women of Colby, as 
well as for the cause of education in general. The construction 
of this building, whose comer stone has just been placed in 



COLBY COLLEGE. 9 

position, renders the existence of the woman's college certain, 
continued and permanent for all time; and is another step in 
carrying out the plan of the trustees to establish here in Water- 
ville a separate and independent college for women, as soon 
as circumstances will permit. And may this,— Eliza S. Foss 
Hall, — its first educational structure, prove an everlasting bless- 
ing to the generations of young women who in years to come 
shall enter its portals and here prepare themselves for the 
great work of life. 

In order that the design of the trustees may be fully carried 
out, money is needed for the construction of a recitation hall 
and other buildings and for the creation of an endowment 
fund. 

Dr. Ricker of sainted memory was accustomed to say that, 
if a fund for any object could be once started and its purpose 
frequently brought to public attention, it would grow. Up to 
the present time no one has given a dollar for the establishment 
of such a fund. But I hold in my hand a check for one thou- 
sand dollars payable to the order of the treasurer, which the 
donor, a good and noble sister, directs "shall be set aside as 
the beginning of a fund for the woman's college, the income 
only to be used for the benefit of said college." She makes 
this gift not only for the promotion of the higher education 
of woman but as a challenge to others to make additions 
thereto. 

DEDICATION OF FOSS HALL 

The formlal presentation of Foss Hall to the Trustees of 
Colby College, and its dedication to the interests of the higher 
education of women in the State of Maine, took place on 
Monday afternoon, June 26, 1905. The exercises were held in 
the spacious dining-room of Foss Hall. 

After prayer had been offered by Rev. George Bruce Nichol- 
son, Rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church of Waterville, Mr. 
William H. Snyder, A. M., of Worcester, Mass., delivered the 
following address: 



10 I^OSS HAI.I.. 

Eighty-seven years ago the sixth day of next 
MR. month was established here upon the banks of the 

SNYDER'S Kennebec the Maine Literary and Theological Insti- 
ADDRESS tution, which through the varied vicissitudes of 
its growth has developed into Colby College that 
we know today. That was, indeed, a memorable occasion 
in the history of this beautiful city, but I believe that hardly 
less memorable in the years to come will be the occasion for 
which we are assembled this afternoon. Today we dedicate 
the first building that has ever been erected in New England 
north of the boundaries of Massachusetts for the purpose of 
the higher education of women. A new era in educational 
progress for northern New England begins today. It is, 
indeed, true that since 1863 it has been possible for a woman 
to obtain a college education in this State, but there has been 
no suitable provision made for her care or comfort. Thanks 
to the generosity of the noble woman who sits beside me, this 
will no longer be true. This beautiful and commodious build- 
ing, equipped with all the conveniences which a young woman 
ought to desire, cannot fail with its beautifully appointed dining 
room, light and cheerful halls and cosy rooms, to inspire anew 
in those who live within its walls a love of the beautiful, the 
useful, and the homelike. Refinement and culture are things 
that cannot be imparted by books or lectures. They are the 
product of imperceptible assimilation from environment, and 
it will be the function of this inanimate building to enable taste 
and womanliness to attain under inspiring conditions their full 
fruition. That this building may be a factor in the develop- 
ment of the well-bred as well as the well-read woman, has 
been the inspiration and hope of all those who have been in 
any way connected with its erection. 

In order to realize the full significance of this occasion, 
it may be well to trace briefly the progress that has been made 
in the education of women. Although the founders of New 
England showed an unprecedented zeal for education by the 
founding of Harvard College in 1636, almost before the colony 
could have felt that its own establishment had become secure, 
yet this zeal for education was entirely directed to the educa- 
tion of men. The feeling of the colonies in regard to the 



COI.BY COLLEGE. II 

education of girls may be inferred from the ruling made in 
1684, for the Hopkins Grammar School at New Haven, Ct. 
It was as follows: "And all girls be excluded as improper 
and inconsistent with such a Grammar school as ye law enjoins 
and as the Designe of this settlement." Benjamin Mudge 
writes: "In all my school days, which ended in 1801, I never 
saw but three females in public schools in my life, and they 
were only in the afternoon to learn to write." In 1773, David 
McClure writes in his diary: "Open school, consisting the 
first day of about thirty misses. Afterward they increased 
to seventy and eighty ; so that I was obliged to divide the day 
between them, and one-half came in the forenoon and the 
other in the afternoon. They were from seven to twenty 
years of age. * * * I attended to them in reading, writing, 
arithmetic and geography principally. This is, I believe, the 
only female school (supported by the town) in New England, 
and is a wise and useful institution." This school was located 
in Portsmouth, N. H. 

There were at this time a few private schools where girls 
could obtain the rudiments of an education and in some even 
as much as the boys who entered college, but female education 
was indeed in a rudimentary stage. So recent has been the 
demand for the education of girls that the great girls' high 
school of Boston did not until 1878 provide sufficiently 
advanced courses to prepare girls for college. In 1833, Ober- 
lin College in Ohio opened its doors to women and inaugu- 
rated that policy which in succeeding years has been followed 
by so many colleges of this country that at the present time 
out of the nearly 500 institutions considered ^ of college or 
university grade which are under Protestant control, eighty 
per cent, admit women as candidates for degrees. Mount 
Holyoke, in many respects the pioneer institution for the higher 
education of women, was opened as a seminary in 1837, was 
chartered as a college in 1888, and only twelve years ago was 
organized into a full college. Vassar, the first institution of 
full college grade to be established for women, was founded 
but forty years ago. Since then there have been established 
thirteen distinct institutions of college grade for women. 
Although co-education seems to be firmly established in 



12 FOSS HALI.. 

some parts of our country, though nowhere else in the world, 
there are certain sections even here, where its foothold has 
never been secure. In 1888, women were excluded from 
undergraduate courses of Western Reserve University, although 
they had been previously admitted. The university immediately 
provided for them by establishing a college for women in close 
proximity to the university and under its charge. Tulane Uni- 
versity, at New Orleans, had established a somewhat similar 
affiliated college for women two years earlier. Thus came 
into existence another method of providing for the higher 
education of women and one which has since been adopted by 
Harvard, Columbia and Brown. All three of these methods 
have their advantages and disadvantages and local conditions 
must to a large degree determine which is the best. The ques- 
tion as to whether it is best for women to be educated and 
whether mentally and physically they are capable of acquiring 
a college education, has ceased to be a matter of controversy. 
The question, however, as to the kind of education best suited 
for the development of the highest ideal of womanhood and 
as to the best methods to be used, is one, the careful consider- 
ation of which has but just begun. The development of the 
higher education of woman is the only great contribution to 
education that America has made. Our ideals for the higher 
education of man have come almost intact from the continent 
of Europe. In the education of women alone we have shown 
real initiative and are adding something of value to the educa- 
tional progress of the world. Hamilton Wright Mabie said 
in a recent address : "This is the day of the trained man and 
of the trained woman. Recent events have shown that it is 
the man behind the gun that counts. Germany has proved 
conclusively that it is training which achieves both in war, in 
industry and in commerce." She stands first today in the 
training of men. The highest claim we can possibly make 
for ourselves is that we are on a par with other countries in 
this matter. If the pre-eminence of this country is to be 
maintained after its natural resources have been somewhat 
exhausted, it will be because the best trained race has been 
developed here. And this will be developed only when women, 
the rearers, trainers, comforters and inspirers of generations 



COIvBY COLLEGE. 1 3 

past and to come, have here been enabled to develop the highest 
ideals of womanhood. 

Colby's relation to the education of women can be briefly 
stated. In 1871, some fifty odd years after its foundation, 
women were allowed to enter under the same conditions as 
men. This arrangement continued for nineteen years, until 
in 1890 the present arrangement of coordination was inaugu- 
rated. 

In but few localities in New England has co-education 
flourished. The young women as soon as their numbers began 
to approach those of the men have been regarded by many 
of the men as interlopers and the relationship of the men and 
women student bodies has not been harmonious. This dislike 
that men manifest to the presence of women in their classes 
and to their participation in the life of the college, although 
at first sight it may appear boorish and unmanly, will, I believe, 
upon closer inspection be found to be due to an inherent and 
persistent sentiment of mankind. This sentiment is one which, 
although certain forms of its manifestation may be crude and 
objectionable, we do well to recognize and give due value to. 
It is probably true that in our Western states where the country 
is new and the population more scattered, where life in the 
open and the exhilaration of mutual achievement that is obvious 
bind men and women together in common fellowship, the swing 
of surging external life makes possible a feeling of general 
kinship and hearty good fellowship between the sexes, which 
the slower motion and more introspective life of the longer 
settled communities does not stimulate. The zest for com- 
radeship between men and women inherent in the desire to 
develop properly the common interests of growing communi- 
ties is not present in the older settlements. Here the com- 
munity of interests between men and women is due to the 
inspiration of that happy ideal which floats before the eyes 
of every right-minded young man or woman, and the realiza- 
tion of which produces that noblest institution outside of 
Paradise — the Christian home. In this form of fellowship 
there is no class competition, there are no flunks to be criticized, 
no forced association even for a few hours of the day with 
those of the opposite sex who are not agreeable. Rivalry 



14 FOSS HALL. 

with women, competition with women, business dealings with 
women, — these are distasteful to the average young man and 
these are the things which he often feels make up the relations 
between the two sexes in the co-education college. The associ- 
ation of men and women en masse, except for the attainment 
of some common good in which there is no individual advan- 
tage to be gained, has never proved attractive. There are 
few, if any, strong societies or associations composed of both 
sexes. There has always been an idealization of the relation- 
ship between the two sexes, the charm of which never fails, 
provided that when the time of attrition comes they are in 
such close companionship that what would have once produced 
friction now but furnishes heat sufficient to melt the two souls 
into an alloy stronger and more beautiful than either of its 
constituents. 

The form of education for youths, the limitations of which 
are entirely different from those of co-education, is that of 
the separate college for men and women, the monastic idea. 
This is the educational plan most followed in New England, 
and on the continent of Europe. Although without consider- 
ation this might seem to be the ideal method, yet upon con- 
sideration it must be acknowledged to be artificial in the 
extreme. Men and women are supplementary to each other 
and the ideal life is where they can freely mingle without com- 
petition and learn without artificiality the inherent strength 
and weakness of each other. Young men when massed by 
themselves and subjected to little but their own society tend 
unavoidably to rudeness and a disregard for the proprieties 
of life. Roughness and uncouthness develop to an extent that 
the occasional association with the family and the life of the 
home does not eradicate. The views of and the feelings 
toward the opposite sex also are very liable to become perverse, 
morbid and abnormal. What is true of the men is also true 
in another form of the women. There is likely to be developed 
in the women of the woman's colleges either prudishness or 
an entirely frivolous and unwholesome idea in regard to men. 
Men are associated with only at college functions or on vaca- 
tions, when sentimentality, inane suavity, with the accompany- 
ing small talk and superficial observations make up the require- 



COI.BY COLIvEGE. 15 

ments of society. There is no purpose in anything. Life is 
being played, not lived. Neither comes to know in what the 
real life of the other consists or its underlying strength or 
purpose. 

The third method in education is the one Colby has marked 
out for herself. She is endeavoring to establish side by side 
two independent yet mutually related colleges, where young 
men and women can be trained independently of each other, 
where there will be no distasteful competition, no forced associ- 
ation en masse, no community of interest except such as is 
mutually desired, and yet where young men and women imbued 
with the same lofty aims and inspired with the same high 
motives, may be brought into close relation to each other and 
learn to know and be known in a normal way — thus mutually 
supplementing the lives of each other and naturally developing 
into full and well-rounded characters. 

The statistics gathered by the Association of College Alumnae 
show pretty conclusively that the health of women students is 
not materially affected either for good or bad by the acquiring 
of a college education. The greater strain upon the system 
and the nervous exhaustion is fully counter-balanced by the 
more regular hours, simple diet and constant employment which 
checks that tendency to introspection and its accompanying 
vagaries. This, however, is not enough. Dr. Weir Mitchell 
said some years ago: "Today the American woman is, to 
speak plainly, physically unfit for her duties as a woman and 
is perhaps of all civilized females the least qualified to under- 
take those weightier tasks which tax so heavily the nervous 
system of man. She is not fairly up to what nature asks from 
her as a wife and mother." The college should not only leave 
the girl that graduates from it as well as when she entered, 
but she ought to be physically built up during her course. 
An educated bunch of nerves is not a woman. The curriculum 
of a college for women should be planned with special refer- 
ence to the health of the students. Proper exercise, care and 
regulation of life should have the first consideration. The 
bell summoning to recitation should not be more regular and 
mandatory in its call than that which summons to the out-of- 
door recreation, the gymnasium or the hour of quiet rest. The 



1 6 E'OSS HALL. 

girl who becomes nervous and worn should be prodded and 
disciplined just as effectively, although in another way, as the 
girl who is failing in her studies. The college that produces 
sane, normal, healthy, cultured women has proved its right 
to exist and none other has. The sort of care needed cannot 
be readily exercised if men and women are in the same classes. 
In this age, when combat with the forces of nature is 
becoming less fierce and apparent, it is necessary that there 
should be especial ruggedness and forcefulness in instruction. 
The physical effeminacy of many a young man for whom the 
necessity of physical labor has been largely eliminated by the 
so-called conveniences of modern life is liable to become 
mental effeminacy unless his fibre is stimulated and made sturdy 
by drastic and ruggedly forceful teaching. He needs sharp, 
vigorous, compelling instruction, which strikes with the force 
of a bludgeon and makes his fibre wince and which calls for 
all the stamina he can summon to stand up against it. The 
teaching, however, must not be brutal but must be governed 
by a refined appreciation of the student's needs and a strong 
inherent sense of justice. The discriminating adjustment of 
force and kindliness it is next to impossible for a teacher to 
maintain if all his work requires the same amount of strenu- 
ousness. He must be able to relax or he will become a mar- 
tinet. The same forcefulness is not needed with women. They 
are, as a rule, more conscientious about their work, and much 
more easily affected by censure. Their perceptions are more 
acute and the same sledge-hammer blow that would be neces- 
sary to open the skull of a boy to certain truths, if used with 
them would cause nervous disintegration. With girls the 
tendency of the teaching is to become forceless and to supply 
the spur in the form of exasperating pettiness. Minute exact- 
ness and fussy nicety are likely to become the tests of efficiency. 
Society has ever shown a desire to balance those evanescent 
qualities which are termed manliness and womanliness. When 
the distinctively manly qualities were harshness, severity, pug- 
naciousness and sturdy wilfulness, those of the women were 
submissiveness, gentleness, winsome affection and superficial 
accomplishments. The times have changed, however. The 
men of today have become less masterful, less rude. If the 



COLBY COLLEGE. 17 

norm is to be maintained, the women must become more 
forceful, more mentally dominant. The day of the easy-going 
polishing school is of the past. Mental and muscular fibre, 
not adipose, must be the present aim in woman's education. 
It is well, therefore, that our educators should meet both men 
and women in order that they may not go to extremes in 
forcefulness or forcelessness, and for men and women to meet 
the same instructors in order that they may not be over-brow- 
beaten or under-stimulated, and this is what the affiliated col- 
lege accomplishes. 

Financially, the affiliated college is more advantageous than 
the separate institution. The subjects that must be taught, 
today, are so diversified that every successful college must 
maintain a large corps of instruction. If the college is of 
comparatively small size, some of these teachers are not fully 
employed. Since as a rule men and women are not attracted 
by the same subjects, the men choosing the sciences and the 
utilitarian subjects, while the women choose language, litera- 
ture and the culture subjects, there is in the case of the affiHated 
colleges an adjustment established between the work of the 
diflferent instructors which gives to all an equal amount of labor 
and with a minimum amount of expenditure on the part of 
the college produces a maximum amount of productivity. 
Even though the tendency of the age which appears to be to 
reward those who perform certain kinds of manual labor, 
higher than the teacher's and preacher's and some of the other 
so-called learned professions, should force the affiliated college 
to put in specialized courses so that the educated woman may 
be fitted to obtain the larger remuneration given to the adept 
cook or housekeeper, instead of the small salary of a teacher, 
this will add but little expense and can be readily provided. 
It is even possible that the tendency toward high wages to the 
manually employed and low wages to the teacher may cause 
such a modification of our college curriculum for women that 
the ideal woman of the future according to every standard will 
be the college woman, the woman who is physically strong, 
who is cultured, who knows her race, who is willing to work 
with her hands, who does not fear to be called domestic, to 
whom society and clubs are inferior to family, and who will blend 



l8 I^OSS HAIvL. 

the beautiful characteristics of the old-fashioned and the new- 
fashioned woman into one indescribable harmony of feminine 
loveliness. 

This beautiful building stands not a monument to pampered 
tastes and idly folded hands, but to persistent, well-directed 
industry, to conjugal unity of purpose and a long life, through 
all the vicissitudes of which the ideal seen by the girl in the 
ardor of youth never became obscure. In this, as in most other 
cases of large philanthropy, the giver has had an all-absorbing 
purpose in living, which has dominated the life and crowded 
into obscurity many of those embellishments which weaker 
natures make the aim of existence. Life has been full and 
rich, not on account of the good things that have come into it, 
but on account of the purpose within, which held it true to its 
highest vision. The advantages that Mrs. Dexter as a girl 
could not enjoy she determined that through her the coming 
generation should be able to enjoy, and nobly has she held 
to her purpose. Girls now unborn will rise and call her 
blessed, and the name of her beloved father coupled with her 
own will descend in loving remembrance throughout the future 
history of her native State which she so dearly loves. Graceful 
and tall, perfuming the air with its sweet and health-giving 
aroma, our glorious pine, emblem of this grand old State, lives 
from youth to old age, carpeting with fragrant down the rough 
place of its birth and making a smooth path for those who seek 
its shade, but asks naught for itself except the soil for its roots 
and the smile of God's sunshine for its head. Absorbed with- 
out ostentatious display in giving pleasure to others and 
accumulating to itself a goodly supply of material, which, when 
the woodman's axe shall lay it low, may still be of service to 
humanity, it lives its life of usefulness. So she, whose gen- 
erosity has brought us here, has grown, lived, and stands today 
with sound heart, ringed about with the thrifty growth of 
years of self-forgetting toil, and ready, when the Master's call 
shall come, to give her life's full measure of devotion. 

May the joy which you today, by the presentation of this 
noble building, have given to all friends of the higher education 
of women, well back into your own heart and make it full of 
peace and happiness and gratitude to God, that He has crowned 



COI.BY COLLEGE. IQ 

your life with such great usefulness and has allowed you to 
live to see the desire of your heart fulfilled. 

At the conclusion of Mr. Snyder's address, Mrs. Eliza Ada- 
line Foss Dexter, donor of the building, made fonnal presenta- 
tion of it to the College through the President of the Board of 
Trustees, Hon, Percival Bonney. Mrs. Dexter then said : 

My Dear Friends : I am very grateful that my 
MRS. life has been spared to be present here today to wit- 

DEXTER'S ness the dedication of this beautiful dormitory. I 
SPEECH ^^^ born in the State of Maine, and it is the dearest 
part of the earth for me. I love every part of it, 
and especially the town of Wayne where I was bom. It is a 
source of satisfaction to me that I have been able to erect and 
give to Colby College this Foss Hall, and that Waterville is so 
near my early home. My father was a noble man, and I am very 
grateful to my parents for the loving and careful training that 
they gave me. 

Every dollar that has been given for the erection of this 
building has been earned by myself. When I was a girl it was 
impossible for me to get an education. I left home while very 
young, and have always intended to provide a home for other 
girls in Maine, that they might have the education which I could 
not get when young. I am very happy to have this building 
called Foss Hall ; and I give it with my love and prayerful 
interest to Colby College, to help in the education of the girls 
of my native State. 

Judge Bbnney's speech of acceptance for the College was as 
follows : 

My Dear Madam: The agreeable duty 
"' devolves upon me at the present time to receive 

BONNEY'S from its generous donor the keys of this beauti- 

SPEECH ful and useful building. I accept these keys as 

OF the representative of the trustees of Colby 

ACCEPTANCE College who now fully assume its custody and 
control. I need not assure you that the trustees 
not only accept the trust, but that they will execute the same for 
the beneficent purposes which stimulated the gift, while the 



20 FOSS HAIvI,. 

sanctity of the trust has been increased by the statement just 
made by you, that this great gift is the result of your own 
industry. 

The College and its tributary academies are highly indebted 
to benevolent women for assistance in the great work com- 
mitted to them. In 1887 Mrs. Catherine L. Wording, the 
widow of a distinguished son of the College, erected Word- 
ing Hall for the Ricker Classical Institute at Houlton and by 
her will left a legacy of $5,000 to Hebron Academy. In 1900 
Mrs. Phebe R. Sturtevant built the magnificent home at Hebron, 
and in her will she provided a legacy of $150,000 which has 
been paid. And now another great-hearted woman has pro- 
vided means for the erection of a dormitory for girls' use in 
Waterville for the promotion of Christian education. 

The trustees of the College desire at this time to extend not 
only their gratitude for the addition of another structure which 
will add to the comfort of young women who are pursuing 
collegiate studies here, but their congratulations to you who 
saw the need and who now in your life time can enjoy the high 
pleasure of seeing that need fully met and supplied, and of 
knowng that your own act will bring benefits and comfort to 
generations of young women, who in the future will enter the 
doors of this elegant and convenient home. 

May God continue to bless you, and may others learn the 
long established but often unappreciated fact that it is more 
blessed to give than to receive. 

Therefore in behalf of the trustees of the College I accept 
the gift, and here and now dedicate this building to the two 
great purposes which in the conduct of man should always move 
along together, the honor of God and the service of humanity. 

After Judge Bonney's speech of acceptance, Mrs. Dexter's 
husband, Mr. William H. Dexter, spoke as follows: 

My dear friends, it is with great pleasure that 
MR. Mrs. Dexter and I have come to your beautiful city 

DEXTER'S to be present during the exercises of Commence- 
SPEECH "^^"t week and at the dedication of this beautiful 
building. My wife has always had a great love for 
her native State and long cherished the hope of making a gift 
like this. 



COLBY COLLEGE. 21 

I have examined with the contractor this building, and am 
dehghted with the care and foresight with which it has been 
planned and with its beautiful location. We are fully satisfied 
with its construction and with the splendid results which have 
been achieved. 

This is a very happy day for Mrs. Dexter and for myself, and 
we trust that the blessing of God will rest upon this building 
and that it will be very helpful to many generations of students. 

Hon. Horace Purinton, Mayor of Waterville, in the follow- 
ing address voiced the appreciation of the citizens of Water- 
ville for the generous gift of Mrs. Dexter: 

Mr. President and Friends of Colby College: 
MAYOR I should not be performing my full official duty, 

PURINTON'S if on this occasion I did not speak a few words of 
SPEECH appreciation of the gift of the building which we 

dedicate today. It is a gift to the College but it 
is located in our beautiful city and it is of the benefits coming to 
the city that I wish to speak. 

From our early history as a town and city, the College has 
had a large influence in giving to the city its present high regard 
for the principles which make for good citizenship and high 
moral purpose. In the early days, the teachers and officers of 
the College with their families had a large part in shaping the 
policy of the town in its material affairs as well as in its educa- 
tional and religious interests. This influence has always been 
exercised towards a higher standard of citizenship, with a con- 
stant regard for the moral condition of the city. 

The records of the municipality during its whole history, up 
to the present time, almost continuously bear the names of those 
who were the founders of the College and identified with its 
interests, and our religious, charitable and social organizations 
have been promoted and largely sustained by the men and 
women connected with the College and Institute. 

These later years have seen a remarkable growth in the city 
and an addition to our population of people of many different 
nationalities who have brought with them customs and habits 
somewhat different from our New England ideas, and for this 



22 FOSS HAIwL. 

reason the atmosphere of refinement and culture which the 
college element supplies is of special value to the city. 

This gift, as has been said, marks with greater significance 
the fact that women here at Colby are to receive equal oppor- 
tunities with men for fitting themselves for the duties to which 
the present tendencies of our time will lead them. 

Therefore, I want to express to you, Mrs. Dexter, the giver 
of the building, for and in behalf of the people of the city, our 
thanks for the honor conferred upon the city in placing in our 
borders this building dedicated to the use of those who may 
come here in all the years to come, to gain such knowledge and 
training as will make them better women and more useful to 
the world and generations in which they live ; and so far as we 
may be able, we will make its environment such as to aid in the 
great purpose for which the building is given. 

The dedicatory exercises closed with prayer by Rev. Edwin 
Carey Whittemore, D. D., Pastor of the First Baptist Church 
of Waterville. 

At the conclusion of these exercises, Mr. and Mrs. Dexter 
held an informal reception. Members of the Board of Trustees, 
graduates of the College, and many other interested friends of 
Colby were glad of an opportunity to express their gratitude 
to Mrs. Dexter for her splendid benefaction. Many Colby 
alumnae were present, and joined the young women still in 
college in grateful thanks to Mrs. Dexter for a gift so full of 
promise for the enrichment of the lives of the women of Colby 
College. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDING 

Foss Hall, the new women's dormitory given to Colby Col- 
lege by Mrs. Eliza Adaline Foss Dexter of Worcester, Mass., is 
located on the western side of College avenue on the site for- 
merly occupied by the "Dutton House." Foss Hall is a three- 
story structure built of brick and trimmed with Mt. Holly white 
brick. Its style is Colonial, with a portico supported by white 
pillars of the Ionic order. The total cost of the building, com- 
pletely furnished, is $45,000. 

The main building is 127 feet long and 49 feet wide. The 
ell which joins the main building on the northern side is 47x34. 
In the basement is a large room, 34x40, fitted up as a gym- 
nasium. On the first floor a wide corridor runs north and 
south through the main building, connecting three staircases 
to the floors above. Another corridor runs east and west in 
the ell, connecting with the main corridor and the dining room 
in the northeastern corner of the building. The dining room 
is 59 feet long and 33 feet wide, and will seat a maximum 
number of 200 persons. 

The remainder of the space on the first floor is devoted to 
the parlor, the library, the office, the private rooms assigned to 
the Dean, the hospital and three students' rooms. 

The second and third floors are given up to students' rooms, 
cosily arranged and well lighted. There are baths and toilet 
rooms on every floor. On the third floor is a society room, 
for meetings of various kinds, including the weekly meet- 
ings of the Young Women's Christian Association. This room 
is 30x30. 

On the first floor in the ell are the kitchen, serving room, 
pantry, refrigerator, etc. The appointments of this part of the 
building are excellent. Particular attention was paid to the 
lighting and ventilation, which is pronounced perfect. A large 



24 I^OSS HALL. 

range is installed in the kitchen, together with a broiler and oven, 
with a capacity to feed 200 persons or as many as may be seated 
in the dining room. A particular delight to the housekeepers 
who have visited the new building is the serving room with ali 
the latest devices for facilitating the work of serving the food 
in the best possible manner. 

In the basement are commodious storage rooms for vege- 
tables, canned goods and other supplies. There is a place for 
everything needed in the economy of the institution. There 
is a large laundry with set tubs to which runs hot and cold 
water, and adjoining is an ironing room. There is also a toilet 
room in the basement. Here is located the steam-heating plant 
with a sufficient capacity to heat every room in the house on the 
coldest days. 

There is an elevator for trunks which runs from the base- 
ment to the third floor. All the rooms and corridors are 
papered with artistic designed wall hangings, and exposed parts 
of the woodwork are polished. 

On the wall at the right of the entrance is a bronze tablet 
with the following inscription: 

THIS BUILDING IS THE GIFT OF 

ELIZA ADALINE FOSS DEXTER 

DAUGHTER OF PHINEAS FOSS 

OF WAYNE HILL, MAINE. 

The building was designed by John Calvin Stevens and his 
son, John Howard Stevens of Portland, and is pronounced 
a masterpiece of dormitory construction. The building was 
erected by Horace Purinton & Co., of Waterville. 






■t'. 



